15 The tax collectors and bad people all came close to Jesus to hear him.

² The Pharisees and scribes did not like it. And they said to each other, `This man is glad to have bad people come. He eats with them.'

³ So Jesus told them this story.

⁴ He said, `Which one of you will not do this? A man has a hundred sheep. He loses one of them. He leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and he goes to look for the one that is lost. He looks until he finds it.

⁵ And when he has found it, he is very glad. He carries it on his back.

⁶ When he comes home, he calls his friends and neighbours to come. He says, "Be glad with me! I have found my lost sheep."

⁷ `I tell you, the angels in heaven will be glad like that when one bad person stops doing wrong things. The angels will be more glad about that one person than about ninety-nine good people who do not need to change their ways.'